Fraudster Jailed After Landmark Ruling

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- esure uses contempt of court to secure custodial sentence for fraudster who ‘made up’ an accident -

Wednesday 6th April 2011: esure insurance took a major step towards helping to stamp out the crime of claiming for ‘made up’ accidents(1) when it secured a prosecution and custodial sentence for a Bury man in Bradford High Court on 14th March 2011.

The man – Mr Shah – was among 13 alleged car crashes and numerous claimants from each who presented themselves to hospitals and GPs with apparent whiplash injuries during 2008/9. Between them, they were claiming damages for injuries and costs with a value of around £400,000. esure subsequently found many to be completely fabricated.

Although the alleged incidents took place over a year and were apparently unrelated, information about the participants in the claims suggested that they knew each other and lead esure’s claims and fraud investigators to pursue the claims as a potential fraud ring.

esure persuaded nearly a dozen of the claimants involved to retract their stories and turned down the claims but in this particular case, Mr Shah chose to pursue his claim against esure after claiming that his car had been hit by a driver, Stephen Murray, in Rochdale in August 2008. esure working with leading lawyers Horwich Farrelly took the unprecedented step of pursuing a contempt of court action because Mr Shah had lied about his evidence to the court. This was revealed through forensic evidence discovered by esure’s fraud investigators. There was no accident, there was no Stephen Murray.

The Judge, HIS HONOUR JUDGE SHAUN SPENCER QC heard a plea of mitigation from Mr Shah's counsel and sentenced Mr Shah to nine months in prison reduced to six months. The Judge stated that "crash for cash" is legion in the area and a very serious crime. He also stressed that while Mr Shah was not the organiser of this fraud he was a "foot soldier" in a professional organised enterprise and accordingly received a substantial custodial sentence.

Matt Gilham, Head of Financial Crime at esure, comments: “Fraudulent claims push up car insurance premiums for everyone. This is not a victimless crime. In this case, the defendant had set out to completely fabricate an accident that never happened and claim for it.”

He added: “We believe we may have created new case law by using contempt of court to seal a prosecution. I hope this sends a message to all those involved in this type of crime: you are now at serious risk of time behind bars if you attempt this type of fraud.”


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esure’s press contacts:
Adrian Webb, Head of Corporate Communications: 01737 641000
Asia Yasir, Public Relations Officer: 01737 641305
Email: pr@esure.com
Website: www.esure.com
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Notes to Editors: (1) esure vs Israr Hussain Shah, Bradford High Court